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Title: Tasers a form of torture, says UN
Source:
Daily Telegraph (AFP)
URL Source: http://www.news.com.au/dailytelegra ... 001028,00.html?from=public_rss
Published: Nov 24, 2007
Author: Agence France Presse
Post Date: 2007-11-25 10:53:16 by aristeides
Keywords: None
Views: 262
Comments: 21
Tasers a form of torture, says UN From correspondents in Geneva November 24, 2007 04:44pm TASER electronic stun guns are a form of torture that can kill, a UN committee has declared after several recent deaths in North America. "The use of these weapons causes acute pain, constituting a form of torture,'' the UN's Committee against Torture said. "In certain cases, they can even cause death, as has been shown by reliable studies and recent real-life events,'' the committee of 10 experts said. Three men, all in their early 20s, were reported to have died in the United States this week, days after a Polish man died at Vancouver airport after being Tasered by Canadian police. The man, Robert Dziekanski, 40, fell to the ground and died after the police officers piled on top of him. There have been three deaths in Canada after the use of Tasers over the past five weeks. The company that makes the weapons has said that similar deaths have been shown by "medical science and forensic analysis'' to be "attributable to other factors and not the low-energy electrical discharge of the Taser". The UN committee made its comments in recommendations to Portugal, which has bought the newest Taser X26 stun gun for use by police. Portugal "should consider giving up the use of the Taser X26,'' as its use can have a grave physical and mental impact on those targeted, which violates the UN's Convention against Torture, the experts said.
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#1. To: All (#0)
This article was posted yesterday, but with the wrong headline, which made it appear the story was about lasers, rather than tasers.
To reason, indeed, he was not in the habit of attending. His mode of arguing, if it is to be so called, was one not uncommon among dull and stubborn persons, who are accustomed to be surrounded by their inferiors. He asserted a proposition; and, as often as wiser people ventured respectfully to show that it was erroneous, he asserted it again, in exactly the same words, and conceived that, by doing so, he at once disposed of all objections. - Macaulay, "History of England," Vol. 1, Chapter 6, on James II.
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I wonder what the total deaths due to tasers is not just in the US but other western countries as well?
This is from 04 TASER Danger? 70 Deaths After Use Of Stun Gun Lead To Questions Over Its Safety http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2004/10/12/earlyshow/main648859.shtml
Maybe there are grounds for a class-action suit against the manufacturer?
To reason, indeed, he was not in the habit of attending. His mode of arguing, if it is to be so called, was one not uncommon among dull and stubborn persons, who are accustomed to be surrounded by their inferiors. He asserted a proposition; and, as often as wiser people ventured respectfully to show that it was erroneous, he asserted it again, in exactly the same words, and conceived that, by doing so, he at once disposed of all objections. - Macaulay, "History of England," Vol. 1, Chapter 6, on James II.
Sounds like a plan seriously.. they say these weapons are safe and say those who question it's safety are 'anti-police' read this from the company:
Speaking of torture, I happened by some Reichwing radio show the other day while I was driving in my car. I didn't get the name of the host or his guest (it wasn't someone whose voice I recognized either) and they were talking about waterboarding. Defending it. Claiming it wasn't torture because it only fools the victim into thinking he is drowning and it does no actual harm. They were serious. I couldn't believe my ears. I had to change stations. It made me queasy. I got to thinking about all of the non-tortures I'd like to apply to them, like dangling them headfirst over a 30 story high balcony, threatening to drop them off. Or maybe dangling them face first over a pool full of hungry piranhas. Or maybe a great big plastic shredder? Naturally, I wouldn't actually drop them, but I would do everything I could to make them believe they were going to get dropped, like take a knife and start cutting the rope... Then I'd ask them if this was torture. I bet their tune would change. However, since I hadn't actually harmed them, by their standards, I guess I wouldn't be guilty of any crime right? Sick fuggers.
also this
Made in China?
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Stun Guns, Gun Taser With CE (307 model)
yep, China thanks, no surprise
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"Focusing on Taser International's products may be misplaced, however. Pirated copies of Tasers - of unknown stun power - are already being made in China. Nobody is thought to have checked the power of these weapons, and there is likely to be far less control over who gets hold of them"
"At issue is how this weapon will be used. While Taser International does make background checks on initial buyers, it can't cover the second-hand market. And last week's images of four campus cops restraining and tasing University of Florida student Andrew Meyer, who presented little if any physical threat (see main story), set a bad example to civilians, says Brian Rappert, who studies the impact of technology on society at the University of Exeter, UK. "If the police set that standard, the guy down at the convenience store will think he can do that, too," he says, although the C2 is not available to civilians in the UK. Steve Wright, a conflict studies expert at Leeds Metropolitan University in the UK, agrees. He thinks episodes like the Meyer case may desensitise people into thinking it is acceptable to settle disputes using "coercive, pain-inducing technology"."
This might be why some of these people died. Not that the use of tasers is acceptable, even if they were made with good quality control.
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"THE taser is slowly moving from being a weapon of law enforcement to a consumer product in the US. In 2004, Taser International started marketing a version of the stun weapon to civilians. So far, it has sold 170,000 in the 42 US states where you can legally own one. "There is a tremendous interest in it," says Taser vice-president Steven Tuttle. "We can't make them quick enough right now.
"The question is not just in what circumstances you can justify using Tasers (see "Why police should go easy with the Taser"), but how safe they are. As Taser use continues to spread, organisations like Amnesty International have voiced concerns over safety. Now, in a move that could vastly increase the number of tasings, Taser International, the Arizona-based maker of the stun guns, has launched a renewed campaign to sell them to ordinary civilians in the US (see "Make mine a pink one"). Earlier this month the UK Home Office also announced plans to make Tasers available to non-firearms officers in 10 UK police forces. Tasers shoot two barbed darts into the victim, which deliver a series of 50,000-volt electrical pulses over 5 seconds, causing severe pain and intense immobilising muscle contractions."
"Critics, including Amnesty International, say these studies do not ask the right questions - pointing out that they were done on healthy volunteers at rest, not under the stress of a police encounter. Amnesty points to over 150 cases in the US between 2001 and 2006 where individuals have died in custody after receiving a Taser shock. Many of these people were either mentally ill, or in a state called "excited delirium" induced by very high doses of stimulants like cocaine, PCP or methamphetamine."
Thanks for these links.
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Police shot diabetic in coma with Taser (11/18/2007)
Man Tasered by Halifax Police dies in custody (11/22/07) "This time, two Taser darts hit Hyde’s chest, then the same Taser was pressed to his thigh to cause massive muscle contractions as he attempted to run down the hallway for the back door. The officers administered first aid while the booking officer called an ambulance." “He was in medical distress,” Burbridge said."
#2. To: aristeides, *Jack-Booted Thugs* (#0)
There have been three deaths in Canada after the use of Tasers over the past five weeks.
#3. To: aristeides (#1)
#4. To: aristeides (#0)
#5. To: aristeides (#1)
#6. To: Zipporah (#5)
#7. To: aristeides (#6)
#8. To: aristeides (#0)
#9. To: aristeides (#6)
#10. To: Zipporah (#9)
#11. To: robin (#10)
#12. To: TwentyTwelve (#11)
#13. To: robin (#10)
Made in China?
#14. To: robin (#10)
Made in China?
#15. To: TwentyTwelve (#13)
Made in China?
#16. To: robin (#10)
Made in China?
#17. To: robin (#10)
Made in China?
#18. To: robin (#10)
Made in China?
#19. To: TwentyTwelve (#18)
#20. To: robin (#19)
#21. To: robin (#19)
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